How did I become an F1 driver?

第518章 522：窝法：拿不到车手总冠军？那我买！（6K，加更7/14）

In the first race after the opening battle, the ranking in the driver's overall standings is basically the same as the finishing position of today's race, so I will not elaborate on it here.

The final team standings are as follows:

1. Mercedes: 40
2. Red Bull: 30
3. Aston Martin: 16
4. Ferrari: 8
5. Alfa Romeo: 6
6.Alpine: 2
7. McLaren: 0
8. Red Bull: 0
9. Haas: 0
10. Williams: 0
The only team worth mentioning in the drivers' standings might be Aston Martin.

With Leclerc's retirement, Sainz failed to overtake Alonso in the race.

In addition, behind Alonso is Stroll, who has an injured hand.

Ferrari couldn't even maintain its third place in the team's championship in the opening race of 23 years.

Although this may be a normal period of turmoil after a change of leadership, it must be said that many Iron Buddhas felt deeply disappointed after seeing Ferrari in this state.

However, most of the Iron Buddha Temples don’t care about this.

After all, Ferrari has never won the Drivers' World Championship since KIMI, and it missed the genius Qin Miao in 21.

Whether it is Tiefu Temple that has been around for many years or Tiefu Temple that has been in the pit for one or two years, they are all very open-minded about Ferrari's achievements.

Open up!
Grades and such don't matter.

As long as the team is alive.

Of course, as a legendary team, even if the entire team is in a mess, F1 will still give Ferrari a bonus of 1% of F5's total annual revenue every year as a long-term cooperation award.

Ferrari can rely on this bonus to compete in F1 until it goes bankrupt without having to worry about team budget issues.

This bonus alone is enough to support the entire Ferrari.

It can be said that now it is F1 that has given Ferrari a reason to continue staying in F1.

Not to mention all these years, Ferrari and the terrifying number of Iron Buddha Temples behind it really hope to see Ferrari return to its peak.

But leaving Ferrari aside, Mercedes's successful start to this season has indeed boosted everyone's morale.

……

When Qin Miao finished the post-match interview, changed his clothes and returned to the team's P room, he was ambushed by people hiding on both sides of the back door of the team's P room.

The champagne spilled all over Qin Miao.

Qin Miao looked at the clean clothes he had just put on with some helplessness, as they got wet again in less than five minutes.

Fortunately, although it is night in Bahrain now, the temperature is not low, and the temperature left by the sun during the day still remains on the earth.

You don't have to worry about catching a cold even if you wear wet clothes.

But Qin Miao was no pushover. After picking up a bottle of champagne to use for taking photos to celebrate, Qin Miao began to fight back.

Fortunately, Toto stepped forward and stopped the three people's mischief in time.

After celebrating with the team staff, Hamilton also arrived.

Because Qin Miao was blocking the way in front, when Hamilton came to the team's P room to celebrate, he saw the mess on the ground, so he was alert and was not successfully ambushed. He still maintained the demeanor that a jazzman should have.

However, when the two of them took a group photo when all the team members gathered together after the race.

Franky and Bono, the two bad guys, had no moral ethics. Before the official photographer had even finished taking the picture, they picked up the bottles of wine in their hands and started spraying Qin Miao and Hamilton.

Well, now the old man is all wet.

The photos taken after the opening match of 23 years were also a bit chaotic, with everyone dodging the champagne splashing from their colleagues' hands with smiles on their faces.

After this race, the topic in the paddock naturally focused on Qin Miao and Verstappen.

Leaving Qin Miao aside, Verstappen's lap time was nearly 10 seconds faster than Hamilton's when he finished the race.

Verstappen and Qin Miao fought for so long on the track, and they even had a track accident before the end of the race.

If there hadn't been Qin Miao's interference and the track accident, it would have been possible for Verstappen to finish 20 seconds faster than Hamilton at his current speed.

The powerful performance of Red Bull Racing has been fully demonstrated this season.

On the other hand, Qin Miao continued to demonstrate his tire-protecting ability that puzzled all the teams, including Mercedes itself.

Qin Miao also relied on one-stop pit stops and his defensive ability in the later stages of the race to defend his championship from Verstappen.

I believe that after today's race, Red Bull's strategy team will definitely need to come up with a suitable tactic based on Qin Miao's ability to protect the tire.

They really can't keep following Qin Miao's pace. If they continue like this, it will be difficult for Red Bull to get good results this season.

All in all, Mercedes had a good start this season, so Daimler was very satisfied and gave bonuses to everyone in the team.

Qin Miao's personal bonus is as high as 300 million euros.

After the Bahrain race, there was a week's rest, but Qin Miao did not return to England or Monaco.

Although the next Saudi Grand Prix was not held until two weeks later, Qin Miao still went to Saudi Arabia in advance.

On the one hand, Qin Miao didn't want to leave the dry climate in the Middle East. After all, his body had adapted to the local climate. If he left for a while, he would probably have to adapt again when he came back.

There is also a risk of acclimatization.

After all, acclimatization is a very common problem for F1 drivers.

On the other hand, the Saudi royal family invited Qin Miao to visit.

This time it was not a party or anything, but an invitation to Qin Miao to go to Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, to shoot a tourism promotional video.

When Qin Miao first received the notice from the agency, he wanted to refuse.

Qin Miao also wanted to ask these people whether they were working seriously. He had clearly said that he would not accept any business contracts before his current contract expired.

Until Qin Miao saw the price offered by the other party.

The Saudi royal family offered Qin Miao a promotional video and a one-year tourism ambassador contract.

Gave an endorsement fee of 5000 million US dollars, but the contract was only for one year.

Damn, the money from one contract of these Saudi oil guys is higher than Qin Miao’s annual salary driving for Mercedes-Benz.

The key is that these Saudis are so fucking sensible. They know that Qin Miao doesn't like various commercial activities in the paddock, so the contract they offered to Qin Miao has almost no constraints on Qin Miao.

They only asked for Qin Miao's portrait rights for publicity and needed him to cooperate with them in shooting an advertisement of no more than three minutes. The last requirement was that they needed to spread the news that this one-year contract was worth up to 5 million US dollars, and Qin Miao just had to not deny it.

These Saudi people are just rich, they are not stupid.

They are even good at spending money.

So they knew that if they wanted to find Qin Miao to advertise, they couldn't go through the normal channels.

Then I thought of this roundabout way to save the country. After all, there is basically no one in the world who can get 5 million US dollars for a one-year contract.

Once this news is released, it will definitely attract global attention.

Then I thought about the target of the advertisement being Saudi Arabia.

As well as Qin Miao’s own star effect, I believe that after the epidemic ends, more and more people will travel to Saudi Arabia.

Putting aside the deeper thoughts behind this contract, for Qin Miao personally.

This contract can be summed up in two words: giving money.

This is totally giving money to Qin Miao.

After repeatedly confirming that the other party really did not raise any additional conditions, Qin Miao did not think much about it and finally accepted the other party's invitation readily.

After all, they paid too much. Minus the bonus for winning the Grand Prix in a season, it was really higher than my salary as a driver.

At this moment, Qin Miao really understood why other drivers were willing to participate in various commercial and marketing activities even though they were so busy every Grand Prix weekend, and they would go even if their faces were stiff with smiles.

Because these activities can accumulate a large number of passers-by and fans for the drivers, and these passers-by and fans will eventually be converted into money through various channels.

Of course, knowing this will not change Qin Miao’s attitude towards business activities.

Because Qin Miao is really open-minded about this.

During the rest time on Sunday, Zhou Guanyu met Qin Miao in the RV camp prepared by Mercedes-Benz for Qin Miao. When listening to Qin Miao talking about this matter, Zhou Guanyu's expression was a little distorted.

Although Zhou Guanyu performed well in the first season of his professional career, he basically earned back all the resources that he and his family had invested in him in the early stage through sponsorship in the domestic market, and even made a lot of extra money.

Although the money invested in Zhou Guanyu is of little use to his family.

However, Zhou Guanyu's performance in the F1 arena for one year is very commendable to Zhou Guanyu himself.

Even Zhou Guanyu himself felt a little proud.

But after hearing that Qin Miao earned 5000 million US dollars so easily, Zhou Guanyu gradually became murderous when he saw Qin Miao's face.

But in the end, he just threw a pillow at Qin Miao's face and blackmailed Qin Miao for a meal.

The two of them did not slack off afterwards.

We started studying the Jeddah circuit in Saudi Arabia together.

Although Qin Miao's skills are much better than Zhou Guanyu's now, their research and practice together is more like Qin Miao providing Zhou Guanyu with one-on-one private guidance.

But in fact, Zhou Guanyu's presence can, on the one hand, strengthen Qin Miao's understanding of the Jeddah track, and on the other hand, can also help Qin Miao to fill in the gaps, so that while Zhou Guanyu is practicing, he can consolidate his own impression of the track.

Of course, when these two get together, they will inevitably play a few games of CSGO during their break.

……

On Monday of the competition week, Qin Miao received a call.

I picked up the phone and saw that it was a number that I didn't have any name on.

This was Qin Miao's private phone number. Not many people knew this number, and Qin Miao had never registered any online account with this phone number. Naturally, there was no possibility of harassing calls.

And it is impossible for someone who knows Qin Miao's phone number to spread it around.

So when looking at this unfamiliar number, Qin Miao felt a little confused.

Who's calling?
However, Qin Miao answered the phone without much thought. It was not a good idea to keep the phone ringing like this.

"Hello Qin Miao, I am Ferrari team leader Vasseur." English with a French accent came into Qin Miao's ears.

Qin Miao immediately imagined the image of Wasser with his mouth tilted during the interview.

But Qin Miao didn't slow down: "Ah, good afternoon, Mr. Wasser, I didn't expect you to call me."

After all, strictly speaking, Qin Miao is still a Mercedes-Benz employee. It is normal for Qin Miao to respond coldly and distantly when Vassell called him.

Vasseur didn't mind either, and he even hoped to see Qin Miao's loyalty. After all, after Qin Miao joined Ferrari, Ferrari wanted Qin Miao's loyalty as well as his strength.

However, Vassell did not forget the main purpose of calling Qin Miao this time: "It's like this, Qin Miao, I believe you should also know that the contract negotiations between Ferrari and your agency team have reached a stalemate."

Qin Miao had actually heard about this matter and had put forward his own requests, for example, that he had the right not to participate in the team's commercial activities.

If you are not satisfied with the arrangements made by the team's top management, you have the right to refuse.

When I join Ferrari, I want to be the number one driver, the team's resources must be tilted towards me, and I can reject any tactics on the track if I feel they are inappropriate.

Etc., etc.

Ferrari was reluctant to agree.

To be honest, Ferrari really doesn't care about money.

After all, Ferrari really spares no expense in its investment in F1, and Ferrari can afford and accept a salary of 6000 million euros for Qin Miao.

However, Qin Miao did not want to participate in business activities and wanted to touch the power of some senior executives within Ferrari, which directly touched the fundamental interests of Ferrari and the nerves of some people.

Although the current Ferrari has disappointed the Iron Buddha Temple time and time again, Ferrari itself knows very well that the foundation of their existence is actually their fans.

You are a Ferrari driver, but you don't interact with the Iron Buddha Temple. This is inappropriate.

This behavior of abandoning fans goes against Ferrari's team-building philosophy.

There is also the issue of rights. As a lousy driver, do you understand what fleet management is?

A young kid who just graduated from high school wants to interfere in the management of a racing team, or Ferrari?
Who gave you the courage?

But then again, Ferrari does not agree to these two conditions in principle.

But if Qin Miao has the ability to win the championship, or even lead a team that does not have the ability to win to win the championship, or even the driver's championship, then this matter is another matter.

Nodding, Qin Miao replied: "I have heard of it."

In addition, Qin Miao now has a stronger sense of belonging to Mercedes-Benz because of Toto's various behaviors, and Ferrari has no intention of bargaining on the conditions proposed by him, so Qin Miao thought he could take this opportunity to thank Ferrari for its trust in him and end the negotiation about his driver contract.

So Qin Miao said directly: "Of course I also thank Ferrari for its trust and confidence in me. After all, Ferrari is where I grew up. I have left too many good memories in Ferrari. It's a pity that I can't return to play for my favorite team when I was a child, but I believe..."

Before Qin Miao finished his standard thank you speech, Wasser interrupted him: "Qin Miao, wait a minute, although I called you to talk about the contract this time, it may not be what you imagined."

Qin Miao asked curiously: "Is there anything different?"

Vasseur smiled and said, "I called you this time to tell you that Ferrari has agreed to all your conditions! And your salary will be increased to 5500 million US dollars, and bonuses are not included. It is only higher than the bonus you are getting at Mercedes now."

Qin Miao:?
what?
No, man.

Why did you agree to this?
The conditions Qin Miao originally set followed the teachings of Mr. Zhou Shuren.

The Chinese are always willing to compromise. For example, if you say that the room is too dark and you need to open a window, they will definitely not allow it. But if you advocate removing the roof, they will compromise and be willing to open the window.
-
Lu Xun
As for your saying that Ferrari is an Italian company and may not understand the ins and outs of this...it doesn't matter.

Doing business is nothing more than asking for a high price and paying a low price.

This rule applies all over the world.

The current negotiations between Ferrari and Qin Miao are like this:
Qin Miao: I want to take off the roof.

Ferrari: OK! I'll prepare the tools for you.

Qin Miao: Ah?

Ferrari: If you need it, I can also give you the property certificate. The house is yours as a gift.

……

To be honest, Qin Miao actually accepted Ferrari's bargaining.

Even the high price he offered was to give Ferrari room for bargaining.

If during the negotiation process, the conditions offered by Ferrari are better than those offered by Mercedes-Benz, Qin Miao may not necessarily consider Ferrari.

But Ferrari seemed to know that Qin Miao's heart had begun to lean towards Mercedes-Benz because of Toto's efforts, so it gave Qin Miao a big win.

The kind that opens wide and fits close to the face.

Qin Miao didn't know what to say for a moment.

What's there to say?

Your request, which you haven't even thought about, just raises expectations and waits for the other party to bargain, and the other party will agree directly.

To be honest, at this moment, Qin Miao had completely forgotten about Tonto's care, the feeling of being at home in Mercedes-Benz, and the title of two-time world champion.

There's no way, Ferrari gave too much.

And Vasseur on the other end of the phone obviously knew how great a price Ferrari had paid and how favorable the conditions offered to Qin Miao were. So Vasseur also knew how shocked Qin Miao would be at this time and gave Qin Miao enough time to react.

After a long while, Qin Miao asked, "I remember that in my contract, the salary was $3000 million. How come it increased to $5500 million?"

Vassell said with a smile: "We feel that you deserve this price with your current strength, and it doesn't make sense that a two-time world champion would be paid less than his defeated opponent."

Although he didn't say it explicitly, the meaning of Vasseur's words was very clear. The defeated opponent he was referring to was Hamilton.

Hamilton's salary at Mercedes this year is 5 million euros, which is exactly around 000 million US dollars.

Qin Miao scratched his head: "Although that's what I said, I still don't understand why you agreed to this condition?"

Wasser smiled and asked, "Why? Don't you have any other clauses to include? We can discuss everything."

Qin Miao:......

No, when did your Ferrari become so weak?
Before Qin Miao could continue to say anything, Vasseur answered Qin Miao's doubts: "In fact, it is mainly because of your ability to protect the tire. If Ferrari had you this season, we would definitely be able to occupy a higher position in the driver's standings. At the same time, with your ability, you can also make up for the shortcomings of the car's performance to a certain extent.

Also, I looked through your files during your time at Ferrari, and your character and stability were important factors in our decision.”

Qin Miao sighed. To be honest, he had the urge to agree right away.

However, if it was Qin Miao who had just entered F1, he would definitely accept the olive branch thrown by Vasseur without hesitation.

But now Qin Miao has been in the paddock for nearly three years and has made some progress.

So Qin Miao did not rush to agree, but said: "Vasseur, honestly, thank you, and thank you Ferrari for your trust and optimism in me. I am flattered and really appreciate it."

But after hearing Qin Miao's words, Wasser was stunned.

What's going on? The way Qin Miao spoke and the way he used words, did he want to refuse?

Of course, Qin Miao didn't want to refuse.

"I will consider it carefully. After all, you know, the 23rd season has just begun. Anything can happen in the second half of this season. We still have enough time to evaluate this cooperation."

Wasser breathed a sigh of relief. For some reason, at this moment Wasser even felt a little anxious.

But all in all, it’s good that I didn’t refuse directly.

"Of course, we are always waiting for your reply. You can call me at the first time if you have any ideas. This is my personal number."

After exchanging a few more pleasantries with Wasser, Qin Miao hung up the phone.

Afterwards, Qin Miao made notes for Vassel's phone call and started thinking.

To be honest, Qin Miao had no reason to refuse the conditions offered by Ferrari.

After all, when you are negotiating business with others, you offer a trial price, and you know that this is a price that the other party cannot accept, so you are waiting for the other party to bargain.

Then the fuck happened, the other party actually agreed.

Qin Miao could never refuse this kind of cooperation that was mutually agreed upon.

Qin Miao also knew very well that the reason why Ferrari was willing to offer such incredible conditions was because of its own strength.

Without the incredible tire-preserving capability provided by the system, Ferrari, which was in a slump, would not have been able to offer itself such an incredible contract.

Qin Miao is confident in his own abilities. After going to Ferrari, he can indeed rely on his own abilities to bring Ferrari one race championship after another. As for the team championship, that is not something Qin Miao can do alone.

So Qin Miao was not worried that he would not be able to win the championship after changing jobs.

Of course, teams like ARRO, Renault and Lynk & Co are excluded.

No matter how hard Qin Miao tried to protect the tire, it would be useless if the speed of the cars was too far behind.

What Qin Miao is thinking about now is how he should tell Mercedes-Benz about this matter.

Should we tell Mercedes about Ferrari's conditions?

If Mercedes knows about this, will it offer the same chips as Ferrari? If Mercedes really offers the same chips as Ferrari, will I stay with Mercedes or choose Ferrari?

Or should we use bidding to see which one between Mercedes and Ferrari offers the higher price?

(End of this chapter)